God: The Father
I don’t think I need to tell you guys that I spend a lot of time getting to know God when I’m not writing for The Rebel Christian. The closer I get to God, the better my writing is after all. But I noticed a few things last year that I’m going to take the time to address in the next few updates.
The first thing I want to address is the way we see God.
This should be an easy thing to talk about for Christians, right? And the truth is that it is!
How do you see God?
As my father, my savior, my deliverer, my redeemer, healer, provider, supplier—and the list goes on. I’m sure anyone who is saved—whether for 20 minutes or over 20 years—will agree with that list. The sad part is that not everyone who agrees with that list actually believes it. Truth be told, I was one of those people.
Growing up in the church, I heard plenty of faith talk, faith testimonies, and faith sermons. I thought I had a grasp of the meaning of faith but, looking back, I can now say that I did understand faith, but I didn’t apply it. Instead, I’d been applying hope—a desperate hope that one day things would change, get better, be healed, etc.
Now, there is nothing wrong with hope, but you must remember that hope and faith are not the same thing. To brush up on that topic, take a look at my study, The Difference Between Faith & Hope.
Part of the reason I was holding on to hope instead of applying faith is that I didn’t see God for who He truly is.
God is the creator of the universe, the healer of the sick, the provider to the needy—all of that can easily be found throughout the Word from beginning to end, from God the Father to Christ our Redeemer. That was cool and all, but for me God was just someone who did that for the people in the Bible. I knew He could heal, I knew He could supply, provide, and protect. And even though I’d experienced His great, miraculous power for myself on multiple occasions, I still didn’t realize that God was all those things for me too.
God has healed me, provided for me, given me breakthroughs, and so much more. I was so thankful for each blessing when I’d received them, but at the same time, I was still focused on the true desire of my heart. Whether it was meeting the man of my dreams or getting my dream job, I couldn’t see God as my own healer, provider, protector, etc, because one specific miracle I’d been waiting on hadn’t manifest just yet. In other words, I overlooked all the blessings that were right in front of me.
My friend, please do not be like me in your walk with God. You may find yourself in exactly the same predicament I was in; wondering and waiting on God for something that’s been in your heart for quite a while now, but do not let your waiting period discourage you, blind you, or prevent you from seeing God as the miracle-working God He has always been.
Think of all the other blessings you’ve been given and even experienced today! It may not be the breakthrough you’ve been counting down the days for, but it is still a manifestation of the grace and favor of God in your life and is worthy of praise nonetheless.
Think of this scripture:
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
That’s Jesus himself speaking in Matthew 7:11 NIV, telling us that God is our father. It’s important that you truly understand what this verse is saying. Everyone knows God is their father, but do they believe it in their hearts? Do you truly understand that God is your father? Do you know what it means to have a father?
A father provides, protects, comforts, disciplines, loves, sacrifices, and gives to/for his children. When you look at your earthly father and you ask him for something, given the circumstances, is there ever any doubt in your mind that he will not give you what you ask for?
Some of you might not have the best father, some of you may not even have fathers at all—but you have all seen a great example of a father at some point. But if you haven’t, let us use God as our example now.
God created us in His image, we can relate that to giving us life, as an earthly father does—notice He did not give birth to us, the way an earthly mother would. God then provided us with a home (earth), He made that home perfect, good, and complete until sin corrupted it into the violent, disease-stricken place it has become today. But despite the degradation, God promised to give us a fulfilling life while we are here in this body on this chaotic and sin-filled earth (John 10:10)—He even threw in a promise that if we surrender ourselves to His will and live under His grace, then we’ll be reunited with Him when our life in this body is done and over. Let’s not forget that promise was solidified with the blood of Christ who sacrificed Himself for us at Calvary.
Do you see what God did for us as our father? He provided, loved, protected, and sacrificed for us all—not to mention a multitude of other things He’s done along the way.
I said all that so I can ask you this: If Christ, who is one with God, is willing to do all of that for you, before you even existed, how much more do you think He will do for you now that you’re here and living righteously, following His Word, and loving Him with every part of your being?
My friend, please understand that knowing God as your father is the most important lesson you could ever learn. Because once you see Him as your dad—and yes! You can call Him dad!—you will be able to see Him as everything else: a provider, a protector, a giver of gifts, a man full of unconditional love, a disciplinarian, a guidance, and so much more.
Get to know God as your father and watch the blessings rain down—beyond that—watch peace take over your life as you begin to trust and understand that God, your father, has got you in the palm of His hand.
God bless.